Coffee Appreciation

Ooft, might be time for a descale as well!

I have a panerello wand so the best I can manage is a blob.

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That's what I mostly get from classic with Silva wand... occasionally something almost clicks though (then I usually ruin the pour):

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Thank you for the kind words on my Easter Island statue. It is just chance: my pouring and milk work are awful in general.

Definitely time for a good descale. What is the forum advised product?

I've got a Silvia wand to fit, just need to get round to it!

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I've got the delonghi descale fluid which I've run through before but to be fair, I live in Aberdeenshire and never really suffer from scale. Gaggia should have a recommended product for your machine and instructions for descaling

Puly Caff

Your new screen looks a bit tatty...

;)

Always used Cafiza myself (what we used in LMNH so never tried anything else). As mentioned, Puly Caff seems to be a popular option also. I'd stay clear of most proprietary cleaning tablets as they tend to be a rip-off.

Also if you've got a Gaggia Classic, the Silvia steam wand upgrade is definitely worth it.

Already got the steam wand upgrade. It was transformative.

I'll get some Cafiza, thanks.

Cafiza is just for cleaning the oils off AFAIK, I use it for back flushing and soaking the portafilter and brass. I use a generic citric acid descaler to get rid of limescale.

Worth doing, blobs will quickly become splodges.

While we're on home-made latte art, this is about the best I can do. Usually much worse. I'm OK at getting good milk from my Silvia but terrible at pouring it consistently.

Boast post ^

Would a Baratza Encore be a considerable improvement over a Rhino/Porlex for espresso?

I'm aware there are only 3 or 4 out of the 40 steps that are usable for espresso, which is not ideal.

Boast post

Here too... Today's milk was pretty much big bubble free, another wonky pour though. #fml

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this is the spookiest of all my accidental latte arts.

These are not my glasses.

So, it's my girlfriends birthday later in the month and I'm planning to buy her a coffee grinder to use with her Aeropress.

Is Porlex the go-to hand grinder of choice?

Does anyone have one for sale?

Helor 101

Depends how much you want to spend.

Depends how much you like her.

Picked up a silvia second hand. Ran dezcal through it today. Water has really cleaned up but after running something like 7 litres of water through it there is still a shit load of calcium deposits in the water. Do I just keep going?

sounds like scale is still present and being loosened. Vibration pump, right? Personally I'd descale it repeatedly until it runs clean and clear. Was it used in London before you bought it?